Ann Arbor and California Hackers Team Up In Pursuit of The Connected Car

On April 4th at Ann Arbor SPARK, a group of techies will gather for the ultimate task: building a connected car.

The Ann Arbor teams will join forces with a group in California at Nest GSV. Both area teams will compete for up to $10,000 worth of prizes from Ann Arbor SPARK. They will have a 24 hour feed to connect each group throughout the event.

Ann Arbor SPARK’s President and CEO Paul Krutko says the goal is to bring developers in Ann Arbor and Silicon Valley together to promote the work being done around connected vehicle technology.

“The event will provide the opportunity for partnership between teams of coders and some of the big-name companies that are doing work in the connected vehicle space,” Krutko said.

Information on the challenges will be released at the start of the event, but we do know companies providing challenge tracks include Hertz, AT&T, mojio, NVIDIA, and gracenote.

The Hackathon also aims to encourage more interest from the Silicon Valley region, to partner or be aware of the tech talent and research happening in Ann Arbor.

“The Hackathon is also a great chance to show coders in the Valley that there is a lot of connected vehicle activity here in Michigan as well. U-M is a leader in this type of research and testing, and the former Willow Run facility is being re-purposed as an advanced vehicle technology center,” said Krutko. “This region is undeniably a hub for connected vehicle research and tech.”